NJPW Kizuna Road 2017: Day 8

SHOTA UMINO vs. TETSUHIRO YAGI - 6/10

As soon as the bell rings they lock up... and then we cut away to look at some dork on commentary. Fortunately, when we finally switched back to paying attention to the wrestling match, they were still locked up in the middle of the ring, so we didn't miss anything. This was the expected ten minute draw. It was good for what it was.

The few minutes of this match appear to have been a rib on Sanada. How else to explain the rest of LIJ disappearing while he is forced to do comedy spots and butt stuff with all four babyfaces? After that we got a few minutes of blah, then a few minutes of good action.

IWGP JR. HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: KUSHIDA(c) vs. BUSHI- 8.5/10

Lots of work on the head from both guys, plus some work on the arm in the beginning from KUSHIDA. There were also some great false finishes at the end and KUSHIDA's selling on the sunset flip powerbomb that led to the count-out tease was wonderfully convincing. Despite that, I did think that the overbooking that led to that spot did hurt the match a bit, and between the ascension of Hiromu and failing to beat KUSHIDA yet again, despite copious rule-breaking, hitting his finisher, and a Canadian Destroyer BUSHI feels like damaged goods to me at this point. He feels like he exists to be KUSHIDA's bitch.

Final Thoughts
A very enjoyable show from New Japan for what it was. Definitely go watch the main event.